bailey



No. 613,65l. Patented Nov. I, I898.

B. F. BAILEY.

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

(Application filed Sept. 10, 1896.)

(No Model.) I v 2 Sheets8heat WJMESSE- [Wm/T012 l 0 M 9Q QWAQ. M 1 1, @Z

- N0. 6l3,65l. Patented Nov. 1,. I898. B. r. BAILEY.

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

' v (Applicltion filed Sept. 10, 1896.) 1N0 Model.) 2 Sheath-"Sheet 2.

I I 1 I I, III, I,

.WIIWESSES .uvmwofl citizen of the United States,

UNITED. STATES PATENT Orrrcn BENJAMIN F. BAILEY, OF YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO PETER W. SHUTE, OF SAME PLACE.

ACETYLENE-GAS GENERATOR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent It'd 613,651, dated November 1; 1898. I Application filed SeptemberlO, 1896. Serial No. 605,455, (No model.)

To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. BAILEY, a.

residing at Ypsilanti, county of Washtenaw, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Acetylene-Gas Producers;

and I declare the following to be a full, e-lear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in-the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying-drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to generators for the production of acetylene gas, and has'for its object a machine which is adapted to produce such gas continuously as fast as it is drawn off for use and no faster. It is arranged to produce gas in verysmall 'quantities if only. a small quantity is'used and to produ 'he it as rapidly as may be desired for consumption, depending, of'course, on the capacity of the machine, which isarran'ged in sizes to meet the requirements'of the, particular location in which it is to lie-used.

One object of the invention is to admit the water which is used to slack the calcium carbid only asingle drop at a time and from time to time as fast as the Water which has been admitted is used up and the carbid' slacked and gas liberated therefrom.

Another object is to produce a. machine from which the waste may be readily and quickly removed and a new supply inserted without even stopping the actionof any part of the machine, exceptthose parts that are cut out to be cleaned. In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the machine in perspective, the casing of one tank being broken away in part. Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the several tanks. Fig. 3 shows a vertical cross-section through. the central tank and one of the side tanks. v

A, B, C, D, and E show several tanks, which may be more'or less in number, as may be desired, andwh'ich will be called hereinafter generator-tanks 'in distinction from the middle tank F, which will be called the dry ing-tank, although at times the material in the generatontanks may be used for drying p irposes and at times the material in the central tank may be used for generating purposes. These tanks are closed receptacles,

erably, other perforations 3 preferably cylindrical in form, with caps at the top that are readily removable and are secured to the tank by any desirable method of fastening. The generating-tanks are connected near the top by intercorhmunicating tubes at 6 0d, and in these tubes are suitablydisposed valves 7) c. The tanks A and E may be considered the first-and last of the series,

and to the pipe e, which connects these tanks r A and E, is connected a supply-pipe fiwhich has a bend or trap f and leads at its upper end out from an elevated water-tank W. In the pipe f, above the bend or trap and between the bend and the water-tank W, is a hand-actuated valve V anda check-valve in a casing k. The check-valve in the casing it opens downward by gravity and is closed by the pressure upward or backward of the water in the pipe f, actuated by the pressure of the gas in the generator-tank, and this checkvalve is preferably of the kind known as the fioat-checkfilight enough to fioaton water,

but heavy enoughv to'drop away from the seatwhen the pressure is removed. In the pipe e, on either side "of the entrance thereinto of the pipe f, is a hand-actuated valve, by means of which the .Waterfiowing from the tank \V may be directed at will either into the tank A or the tank E, as may bedesire In each of the generating-tanks. is inserted a lifting-bail 2, and inside the liftingbail is 'a stack of cups, each of which flares slightly,

so that the upper cup sets slightly intothe 'cup below it, or, if desired, the cups may be of the same diameter at the top and bottom,

so that one will set on top of the other. The

bottom of each cup is 'perforaged with perfo rations 3,fand at the side thereare also, pref- The perfora tions may be omitted at the sides if suitable means are provided for the admission of water over the. top of the under cup and into the space below the cup above. The water might pei'colate d'pward. throughthe spent material;

but it is desirable that as the water rises in the tank its access to the material inthe cups should be unimpeded to as great an extent as possible. v

v he several cups 3 3 3 are partly filled with the blocks of the carbid of calcium or the material from which the gas is produced when water is admitted to it. 7 v

' tan ks he of the niaohine'the pipe a should be slightly lower thenithe pipe at, and the pipesa'andd should be on a slightly-lower plane thanthe pipe 6.

- From the tan V drying-tank l and extends to the: bottom of thatiiank, leading from-the top to the bottom on an oblique line and being provided on its upper side with perforations g g -Iu.- this dryingptank F the carbid is placed in a mass,-

a'ndin the first instance gas that is generated in any of-thegenerators finds iisway into this tank, from which it escapes through the.

pipe i: to its place of consumption. on passing through the material in the tank F any moisture that may have been carried forward with the gas is absorbed by the material, with a creation of gases from the. material itself, and at later pr iriodnwhen the generating- :ae been successively filled with water and l ins to run intothe central tank ermrtsonlyasnsall tilt} nine zenith-as I or none e. r the Miter news in owly, that w does flow in runs dorgn the side of thetanic, leaving the top portions of the material substantially nnailected until the bottom portions have been entirely converted. The gas rises and passes through the generators B and G into and-through the drier F, and in pass ing through these tanks any moisture that may be held in Suspension is taken out of it. When the water in the generator A is raised to 'nrlcvel with the pipe (1, it flows over into the generator 13 and continues to work through k C a pipe 9 loads into thevaluevseat checkthe same ,way, and so also in the generator cl/and it will continue through the generators 1-D and E and through. the drying-taillf F if not interfered with. \Vhcn,'l 1'0-wcvcr,-' the generators A andB have been exhausted and generatorsythe' yalve in the pipe a that closes that branch;vylnchleadslintothe generator A is closed,thevalve b is closed, the valve in that orator -E is'open'ed, and the valve c is opened,

'be removed, recharged, and replaced, the caps replacedy'andthe igzenerators A and B are againin-condition for the productibn of gas. If the consumption of gasv is discontinued or-reduoed below the ability of the machine Ito-produce gas the gas'accumn-latcs in the against water in the trap f". The backpresis balanced by the weight of the wateron the check-valve. This weight may bc'made con-' stant by having a constant supply of water in the tank N in any of several well-known on 1: .1 too i airing or bursting stra n enp. si e, too, it is ere free entrance hell on?) over the v A glene ratuami accumulates in the generati' g-tamk thmis a pressure created, M force the column of I eirward toward the we. 6? ant. gainst the check-valve in The gas acts freely to produce oi pressure even from the tank 0, be- 3 use the pipesia b aronot on a level and the pipe I) is the lower, and consequently these l pipes never fill full of water, the feed-water being so limited in amount thatit never fills any of them. i

it is-desi'red to renew the chargcin those two The cups of the generators A nrrd Bmay now generators and there is aback pressure.

branch ofjthe pipe 0 which leads intothe gen:

sure lifts the check-valve and prevents the further flow of water until the back pressure no. 0 verfi 0 W5 into 1; In a generator for the production of gas 7 by the chemical action ofita'l liquid on a solid, the combination with an inclosingtank, of a series of cups arranged in a stack'stationarily supported in said tank, each of said cups bc-f I ing provided with openings thronghthe bot Y 2;; .ieratedib baek messurenf threats to control,

tom and with means for admitting the liquid Q at the top thereof, a pipe ad'apted'fto deliver liquid into the tankat or near the'top thereof, a valve adapted to control the inflow of the liquid into the tank through said .pipe, means whereby said valve is actuated by the pressure, of gas in said tank, and a gas-outlet pipe communicating with-said'tank' at or near the top thereof, snbstantially'as described.

2. Ina machine for producing gas by the chemical action of a liquid on a solid, the combination of a series of tanks for holding the materiaha liquidsupply connected to the first tank at or nearits top, a single pipe connecting each tank with the next succeeding tank and constituting the gas-escape and liquidsnpply pipe from each tank to the next succeeding,'said pipes being arranged at or near the tops of said tanks and each succeeding pipebeing on a slightly-lower level t-han the next-preceding pipe and all being lower than the liquid-supply for the first tank, a drawoff pipe from the last tank of the series, and means in said liquid-supply adapted to be op-g the supply of liquid to the tanks, tially as described.

' 3. In a generator for the production of gas by the chemical action of a liquid on,a solid,

the combination with an inclosing tank, a series of cups adapted to be arranged in a stack, each of said cups being provided with openings through the bottom and with means for admitting liquid at the top thereof, a pipe adapted to deliver liquid into the said tank near the top thereof, a valve adapted to control the inflow of liquid to the tank and means substauwhereby said valve is actuated by the pressure of gas in said tank, said pipe being provided with an inverted siphon between the valve and its outlet into said tank, whereby the gas-pressure on the valve is made constant.

In testimony whereof I sign this specifica tion in the presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. BAILEY.

Witnesses: PETER W. 'SHUTE, VIRGINIA M. OLoUeH. 

